Saturday, May 2, 2009

This idea came from the boy genius, Victor, a teenage pal of mine in North Carolina. I loved the idea instantly and had a ball illustrating it. If I may be immodest for a moment, I'm really happy with the way this turned out. With so many identical, complex characters standing in a group, it was a challenge to render it in a way that maintained legibility. This kind of drawing can easily become a confusing mess. The faded background characters is the trick, giving the drawing an artificial depth that was a bit of a bear to achieve.

Wouldn't it be great if the real world were this simple? If as people became more evil, they also become more water soluble. Assassins could use water balloons instead of bullets and the innocent would be invulnerable to errant projectiles or misguided attacks.

Of course, some people would never be able to bathe or go out on a rainy day.

(NOTE: As was the case with a couple of readers from foreign countries who emailed me, some may not be familiar enough with American football traditions or the Wizard of Oz film to get this joke. At the end of a championship game (the Super Bowl), players traditionally dump a big barrel of sports drink (Gatorade) on their coach. In the Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West was defeated when one of the heroes accidentally douses her with a bucket of water and she melts.)

Ha ha! I love it Dan!Not surprisingly, I knew EXACTLY who you meant when you wrote "Of course, some people would never be able to bathe or go out on a rainy day." but I clicked on the link just to confirm!

I loved the worried and concerned, yet curious, expressions on all the flying monkeys' faces. I think this adds real humor to the cartoon.

Dan, I wasn't sure what faded background characters you were referring to. Did you mean the faded monkeys or the fans in the stadium? I was curious about the fans, and wondering if you were able to get the effect by hand drawing alone or using a Photoshop type effect.

@Karl...Yes, I ink my cartoons by hand, then color them in Photoshop. The faded look of the monkeys in the background is a Photoshop trick, as is the blurred crowd in the stands.

@Anonymous (Dee)...Yes, that's my Facebook page, but I rarely check it or answer any messages there. I just don't have time. I have a MySpace page, too, but somebody else monitors it, I don't even go there. MySpace is one of the worst designed web sites on the planet. Can't stand it. :)

I love this one. I'm a Wizard of Oz fan of epic proportions. So I immediately got it and loved it. Yes, I wish bad / evil people were water solidiable... it would make life so much easier. They would molder inside and never be able to make war without fear of a good rain or water balloons!!!